A question about tithing

Do you tithe from your gross, or net? To be legalistic, if you tithe from your gross, then you've already tithed your refund (and more)! If only on the net, then yes, you should(?) tithe the refund.
I say all the preceding with tongue-in-cheek, because "God loves a cheerful giver--" and the question arises, from the question you asked, are you cheerfully giving you tithes?
(Not judging, just some food for thought! )

 

Another point to consider is that the amount of your tax refund is under your control. (How you set up your W-4.) I have worked preparing taxes, and a lot of people use the tax refund as a forced savings plan. All a large refund means is that you have loaned the IRS your own money interest-free. It might be better to have a direct monthly withdrawal of 1/12 of that amount into a mutual fund or other savings plan.
If all or part of the refund comes from the earned income credit, you can also get advances on it every pay period from your employer instead of waiting for one large sum.

Karen

P.S. I am not able to answer individual tax questions.

 

Tithing (please put your guns down, folks) is NOT a New Testament or Christian thing! It was the method of taxation used to support the government, which happened to be a theocracy, in Israel when they were established in the Promised Land. It is approximately the same as our income tax today, supporting the army, providing welfare (the care of widows and orphans) and supporting the superstructure of the government (the priesthood). Thus, when you pay taxes now you are doing approximately the same thing except that the ministers in your church are not part of the government (usually).

For a Christian all that we have and are belongs to God. It's a 100% thing. And He and ONLY HE knows how He wants you to use it. Ask Him. Warning: you will not become worldly rich. But you will be fine with all that is needed in your lives plus a little bit more.

All I can give is a personal example, and this is not to put ourselves up as anything special, please.

We know a young man who got his Ph.D in mathematics. He is from Zimbabwe and has a lovely wife and three growing sons. A number of years ago he became convinced that the Lord was calling him into medicine for the welfare of his nation. He received a grant and moved to Australia and is currently a student at a university there. For those of you who are aware of the world situation, Zimbabwe's political structure -- and thus financial structure -- totally collapsed in the past few years and this friend of ours was left without support or even the money to return with his family to Zimbabwe. Barry and I talked and prayed about it and told him we would take care of the money.

It has taken just about everything we had. What shocked me was that at one of the churches where my husband was speaking last fall -- a church with 3000 families in membership -- I asked the pastor on the side if it would be possible to ask for about two years' help to finish our friend's schooling. The way I saw it was that if each family could contribute one dollar a month for two years then this medical student would not only have his entire tuition paid, but his wife would be able to stay at home and be a mom to their children instead of working to try to support the family. The medical student himself had been picking fruit and tutoring to bring in extra money and was barely staying conscious enough to study, let alone be a daddy.

The answer we got was no.

And so we continued on our own, and somehow, some way, each time a tuition payment is due we have had enough. God has supplied. My son is sending them enough each month to help significantly with their living expenses (he is an engineer at a computer firm).

And sometimes we cringe a little at the amount of money going out. But MOST of the time we are simply humbly grateful for the privilege of having the opportunity of doing something which is not only helping a Christian brother, but the incredible privilege of being the means by which an entire nation may end up being helped. How many people get to do THAT in a lifetime?

It's all the Lord's. Find out where He wants to use you and what He has put in your care.

 

ForYourGlory

FYG, I humbly accept your chastisement; I deserved it!

I just jumped to the conclusion that your question had to do with wanting to get by with as little as would be "ACCEPTABLE" ; sorta akin to Helen's description of the 3,000 member church's refusal to help!

I used to fit the above category (get by with as little as would be "ACCEPTABLE") to some extent, but somewhere down the line, God gave me an attitude adjustment, and now I too am a cheerful giver!

Ain't God great!!!! MARANATHA!

 

My pastor had a sermon on Luke 12-26 t'other day. He told us at the end of the sermon that we should all be aware of our possessions AND talents (gifts) and to be sure not to bury them, but to invest for the Lord's gain!

So far a good sermon, but nothing earthshaking!

Then he had the ushers come down and pass out to each member (and visitor if desired) an envelope with a $10 bill. He asked that each person take that money, ($5,000 total) and invest however God may lead and return to the church the first Sun. in april.

The $10 is to go back to him, as it is his money, but all the earnings are to go to the church budget.

My wife is an excellent cook, and I make a pretty fair loaf of sour-dough bread, so we are planning to advertise in our community and sell fresh baked pies, cakes, bread etc.

I thought this endeavor is pretty good way to illustrate the point of the sermon as well as get a little more $ to offset a declining budget income!

Helen

Need a more advanced bible scholar than me to say for sure, but does not the folloing passage support tithing?

 

Hi, just-want-peace,

No, the passage in Matthew 23 is not one supporting tithing for us. Jesus is pointing out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees regarding THEIR tithing.

Or, to look at it from the opposite direction, if that is to support the practice of tithing, then we need to pay attention to the other things the Pharisees did as well, such as building tombs for the prophets and decorating graves.

The fact is that tithing was a part of ancient theocratic Israel, as I mentioned before, which was the same as our taxes today in supporting the superstructure of the government, which in their case included the priests. So we do tithe today -- or I wish it was only tithing (10%)! In the meantime, again, as Christians, all we have and are and own really belong to the Lord. This is far more than a 'tithe.'

 

Indeed, if we belong to the Lord, then everything we have is His. Then from the abundance of things He bestoved upon us, we can lovingly give for the ministry outreach of our local church as the Lord has convicted our hearts. For the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:7

[ March 11, 2002, 12:29 PM: Message edited by: Barnabas ]

 

I think we should all give as God has given us to give. For some that is cash, for others that is service, for others it is both.

 

I concur. Give what you can, give it cheerfully, do it often.
The tithe was the wages given to the Levites, the widows, the aliens and the orphans in the Old Testament. (Dueteronomy 25:12-15)

I will now tip toe out of the money forum. I don't belong in here!

[ March 24, 2002, 08:15 PM: Message edited by: Clint Kritzer ]

 

I have read this thread and it poses an interesting question that I have...

There are those of you that believe in and practice tithing and there are those of you who do not tithe...

My question is to those who do not tithe...

How then without tithing do you expect the church to be supported (pay salaries, bills, etc.) If people do not have a standard to give, then most times they will either give nothing or with little consistency!

 

From Helen:

Well,now, Helen. You sound almost like a Primitive Baptist !

 

Hello and God bless you, everyone! I'm new around here. Looks like a nice Forum you Baptists have.

Here's my 2 cents on tithing.

We cannot dismiss tithing based upon the idea that it's Old Testament/Law of Moses and therefore not applicable to Christians. "Thou shalt not kill" is Old Testament/Law of Moses, too.

Tithing was a principle practiced (at least occasionally--enough so that his son Issac tithed at least once, too) by Abraham maybe 450 years before the Law.

Now this is not enough to base the teaching that every single dollar that comes into our hands must be tithed but I personally do. Call it an offering, call it a seed, call it whatever you'd like. Abraham didn't have to tithe but he did of his own free will for his own reasons.

I'm the same way.

God bless all you Baptists!

 

Tithing was a principle practiced (at least occasionally--enough so that his son Issac tithed at least once, too) by Abraham maybe 450 years before the Law.

Alright, next time you plunder a town and kill all the people, gather up the spoils and seek out the local priest and give him his tithe.

 

Tithing is an Old Testament commandment to give to the Levites for their inheritance. The Church is not under that commandment.

The whole tithe thing is a ploy to cause fear. It's to make people think they are "stealing from God" if they don't dump 10% plus into their church. It is developed from pastoral fear that their ministry will fail. Most preachers, I am sure, don't mean any malice by it. It such an old myth they were probably taught it too.

Let families make their own standard rather than preaching the law that was given to the Jews.

I think you will find the ones that do give ten percent or more will most likely continue. But after they hear the truth they will do it out of their own hearts and not because of some commandment (that was never given to them in the first place).

Ten percent is fine. It's a good round number. But don't preach a lie and put people under a curse.

give out of love and not from fear and guilt.

stevie

[ July 31, 2002, 11:42 PM: Message edited by: absturzen ]